Opportunity lost on Irish

By Christopher Lyles

12:01AM BST 27 Sep 2004

Wasps 35 London Irish 26

London Irish threw away a gilt-edged chance to down the colours of the injury-hit English and European champions at Causeway Stadium yesterday when they conceded three soft second-half tries after opening up an impressive 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

Having also lost to Gloucester and Leicester in what has been a tough start to their schedule, the Exiles are floundering in 10th place with only Worcester and Harlequins below them. Next up are spluttering Saracens at the Madejski on Sunday and it is a match one feels the Irish have to win if their season is to gain any momentum.

"I am not particularly chuffed," Gary Gold, the London Irish head coach, said. "We threw the game away by losing the ball, knocking on and firing out passes that weren't there. You cannot make errors like that against a team like Wasps, with or without their best players."

Too true, though the Irish could also point to the fact that they were missing six first-choice players and lost prop Rob Hardwick, who was performing strongly in the tight, and Justin Bishop during the game.

Scott Staniforth crossed after 12 minutes when he accepted Barry Everitt's beautifully timed pass to put the Irish in front and it was just reward for early territorial domination and ascendancy at the set pieces. With the trusty left boot of Alex King keeping Wasps in touch, however, they would come to rue several spurned opportunities, notably when Staniforth knocked on with Bishop outside and the line beckoning.

The turning point arrived seven minutes after the break when Jonny O'Connor, who enjoyed a conspicuously strong performance in front of Eddie O'Sullivan, the Ireland coach, charged down an attempted Everitt clearance and was first to the rebound.

Further tries from Tom Voyce, who ran an intelligent angle to accept Phil Greening's inside pass, and Ayoola Erinle, who burst through some sloppy tacking from Mike Catt and Nils Mordt, put Wasps out of sight before a late consolation from Staniforth.

With 10 minutes remaining, a sprinkler burst into life and spurted a fountain of water on to the pitch just as Mark Mapletoft was attempting a penalty goal. At least Matt Dawson, the Wasps scrum-half dropped from the England elite squad last week when he chose to honour his Question of Sport commitments, will know what happened next.